THE CHAINS OF DEATH AND FREEDOM.

The hum of emptiness embedded itself in his bones. It was not a sound, it was the absence of all sound, a low, perpetual tone that was more terrifying than any roar. It was the echo of what was gone. Of the one that was gone forever for saving Noelia. For saving them.

"Break your chains."

The hooded man's words were not a memory; they were a ghost burned into his cornea, a mantra beating in unison with the throbbing pain in his side. He was not a hero. He was not a chosen one. He was a bridge between two shitty worlds, and in both he was just as weak, just as paralyzed. 

But he... he had moved. And now he no longer existed.

...

Asimil looked at Ikel. He was bleeding, his face contorted with pain and helplessness. His burning flames were beginning to fade. 

He looked at Noelia. The fury in her eyes was beginning to subside, replaced by pure, raw panic. Her elemental runes were flickering like emergency lights. She was spent. Empty.

The creature rose up, ignoring the wall of earth Noelia had created. Its tentacles tightened, and a dozen black spears pointed at Noelia. Time sped up, becoming all sharp, crystalline, horrible. He saw the main tentacle thrust toward her like a missile. He saw Noelia's eyes widen, not with fear, but with instant resignation. She could not dodge it.

— NOELIA! — The scream was not his. It was Saitras.

At that instant, she released her hood. With a gesture that seemed to tear at her soul, she created waves of dark violet light, heavy, dense, between her and death. A gravitational field. The tentacle struck and sank into it, slowing down to unreality. It was the instant she needed. He lunged with the brutal clumsiness of one who gives all he has left. He pushed her. He saved her.

And the price sounded wet and crunchy. The second tentacle, the stealthy one, pierced it from side to side.

It fell. Like a dead weight, right in front of Asimil. It wasn't him anymore. It was a glitch in the shape of a man. His body was blurring, the colors fading into a frightening gray static.

He wanted to crawl towards him. He wanted to scream. But his muscles were leaden. As always. Fear was a burden that crushed his will. He could only watch. Paralyzed. Useless.

It was in that moment of utter helplessness, as he watched Saitras fade away, that the buzzing of the void in his skull intensified. The world around him seemed to melt away, colors and sounds turned to gray static, leaving him alone in absolute darkness. And in that darkness, he saw him.

A figure stood in front of him. It was him, but it wasn't. He was taller, older, in black armor that looked like it was forged from nightmares. His left arm was a claw of corrupted energy and flames of black and emerald emanated from his body. But the worst were his eyes. They were his, but filled with a millennia of pain and terrifying power. He did not speak. He didn't need to. Asimil felt his recognition, a cold satisfaction, like a hunter finally finding the prey that had eluded him. Then a sharp pain, a prick like a thousand needles of ice, exploded in his head. His mind tried to remember something, to connect with that image, but there was nothing, just a system error that threatened to tear his consciousness apart. It hurt. It hurt like hell.

The vision shattered, bringing him back to reality just as Saitras' broken and terribly human voice snapped him out of his trance.

— No... there... is... time... — he managed to mumble, his semi-transparent hand clinging to the ground.

He turned his head toward Asimil. — Listen... — he whispered, his voice heavy with static, but clear, imperative. — You're not a... hero... Or a chosen one. But you can... improve. Even if it's... one step at a time... Do it. Break... your chains. —

His head turned to Noelia, who struggled, hesitantly.

— Help her... —His voice broke. — She... suffers... more... than she shows. Don't... let... her... fall... alone. —

The glitch advanced on him like a voracious inkblot.

— To tell you the truth... I don't know what... she sees in you, but... MOVE! — he suddenly roared, one last burst of pure will. — EVEN IF YOU'RE FEARED! EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN'T! MOVE, DAMN IT! —

The scream was drowned out by an explosion of blinding white static. And then... it was erased. A patch of emptiness where a man had once been.

An unbearable silence, broken only by the hum of that vacuum and the gasps of Ikel and Noelia. The creature rose, savoring their terror. Its next roar was a promise of more erasures that shook the ground.

Asimil gritted his teeth. Fear was a black ocean. The pain in his side throbbed. The vision of that other him, that monstrous version of himself, burned into his retina.

"Break your chains."

Saitras final command rang out, not just as a suggestion, but as an exorcism against the ghost he had just seen. 

He looked at the emptiness where he was. The price of bravery. 

He looked at Ikel and Noelia. The price of resistance.

He saw the creature. It looked like an embodiment of everything that wanted to erase him. And he saw, in his mind, that other him, smiling.

And something snapped. It wasn't bravery. It was rage. Rage against fear. Rage against paralysis. Rage against the idea that Saitras had died so that he would end up becoming that monster.

And it moved him.

It was not heroic. It was agony. He pushed himself up with his arms, trembling. His legs refused, but he forced them. He screamed at them from the inside. He showed them the emptiness. He got down on his knees. He grabbed his simple dagger. He knew it wouldn't make a difference.

But as he looked at that dreadful emptiness, and heard the echo of Saitras' last cry — MOVE! — burning in his mind like an anti-fear program...

He stood up. Staggering like a newborn in the middle of a hurricane. Taking a step forward. A single step. Trembling. Insignificant.

But it was his step. His first. The broken link.

He was no longer standing still.